The most well-known members of this extraordinary group of Oxford academics who loved great stories and great beer were, of course, C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. But the extended circles of those who met in The Eagle And Child pub on St Giles or in Lewis’s rooms in Magdalen were wide. At various points, they included Owen Barfield, Charles Williams, Lord David Cecil, but also the writings of George Macdonald, G. K. Chesterton and Dorothy L. Sayers to name but a few.

I will be on the lookout for books by or about this remarkable group of friends.

l-r: J.R.R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams and C.S. Lewis.